I am officially declaring today, the Ides of July, Take Your Own Advice Day. This is the one day of the year set aside to thoughtfully consider what we say to others and make sure that we are listening to ourselves.
For example, I often bid my wife “Be careful!” This coming from a man who has been knocked unconscious three times. I also nag her to make sure she gets enough sleep, as she runs a permanent deficit…
Other historical events that happened on July 15th, according to Wikipedia:
1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege. Needless to say the church has been a rich source of advice throughout history, much of which it has itself struggled to follow. “Thou shalt not kill” springs to mind.
1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign. This is OT: I just thought it was a fun fact.
1838 – Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring that Jesus… was not God. He did not, however, go so far as to call him a naughty boy. Emerson was actually pretty good at following his own advice, talking the talk (“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”) and frequently walking the walk. However, the author of Self Reliance did rely for much of his income on an inheritance from his first wife, who died young; he even had to file a lawsuit to get at the money.
1870 – Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. Georgia’s motto is “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation”. Georgia would later be one of those states in the American South that had a spot of trouble meeting at least a couple of those bars in the civil rights wars nearly a century later.
1858 – Emmeline Pankhurst is born. Pankhurst was a pioneering British suffragette, who like Moses would not live to see the promised land, as she died mere weeks before parliament passed the Representation of the People [equal franchise] act of 1928. If my quick researches have not uncovered examples of her failing to follow her own advice, it’s because after reading a bit of her life and struggles I was minded to give her a pass on that score. I especially liked this anecdote: During a tour of Bathurst, the mayor showed her a new building which would become the Home for Fallen Women. Pankhurst replied: “Ah! Where is your Home for Fallen Men?”
1984 – National Ice Cream Day. The legal underpinning for the important piece of legislation making this day possible received president Ronald Reagan’s signature about a week before. Reagan famously said “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Help us enjoy ice cream?
2006 – Twitter is launched, becoming one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Twitter itself has 42.9 million followers, but only follows 138. While it would be unreasonable to expect them to show commensurate reciprocal Twitter love, this does seem a bit lopsided.
A policeman helps Emmeline cross the street as she struggles to ask him not to do her any favours.
So ask yourself, is there any advice that you may not normally be so great about taking, but give to friends, loved ones or the world-at-large from your choice of social media platform?